Half-Full or Half-Empty: An Optimist, A Pessimist, Or Just A Logical Person

This post will be short just because I took an online quiz and was asked “is the glass half-full or half-empty?” and there was no option for, “Well, it depends…”

The reason I hate this question (and have hated it ever since I was a little girl) is this: IT DEPENDS ON HOW THE SUBSTANCE GOT INTO THE GLASS!

Let’s just use logic, shall we:

• If you put the glass under a running faucet and fill it up half-way… THE GLASS IS HALF-FULL
• If you pour some other liquid into the glass and fill it up to the middle… THE GLASS IS HALF-FULL
• If you dump or pour anything (candy, toenail clippings, leaves, etc) into the glass and fill it up half-way…THE GLASS IS HALF-FULL

Now, let’s take a look at the other side:

• If a glass is completely filled with water to the very top and then you drink half of the water in the glass…THE GLASS IS HALF-EMPTY
• If the glass is completely filled with water to the very top and then you pour some of the water out so that there is half the amount of water left in the glass…THE GLASS IS HALF-EMPTY
• If the glass is completely filled with water to the very top of some other liquid or substance and then you drink or pour the the liquid/substance out so that there is half the amount in the glass…THE GLASS IS HALF-EMPTY

Even when I was only seven years old and someone would ask me whether I was an optimist or a pessimist (and not knowing what those words meant, I would ask them) and then they would say, “Well, do you see the glass as half-full or half-empty?” In my mind, I always thought about how it really depended on how the substance was put into the glass. I think that question is silly and is definitely not a good way to assess if you are an optimist or a pessimist. Well, there’s my rant. Hope you enjoyed it!